Learning Processes [830:311]

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1 Learning Processes [830:311] What controls (human!) behavior? Summer Session 2017 July 10 th thru August 16 th T. Alexander Pond Science & Engineering Resource Center. Room 205 (SEC 205, Bldg. #3854 on rumaps.rutgers.edu) Mondays & Wednesdays 6:00-9:40pm* *Note that this is a late class call Campus Police (732/ ) for any emergencies, or if doors are locked, etc. Instructor: Office Hours: Grading: Dr. Kasia Bieszczad Office: Psychology Building Room 227 Class archived learn@sakai.rutgers.edu for class-related questions, textbook questions, etc. Direct kasia.bie@rutgers.edu for individual grade-related questions, or scheduling office hours Fridays by appointment You will receive a letter grade (worth your 3 credits) based upon in-class participation (this includes mandatory attendance!) and evaluations (e.g., popquizzes, mid-terms and peer-evaluations), blog entries (one per week), and a team project (built from your TeamWork Assignments) to share with the rest of your class in a minute Powerpoint-type presentation. There will be no final exam. I. Rationale: This course is to designed to introduce you to the science of behavior. How can we study behavior? How can we understand the causes of behavior? Over a century of research in behavioral psychology has established tools and techniques that have revealed essential rules of behavior that relate to innate processes, learning processes, and motivational processes. II. Course Aims and Outcomes: You already have a fundamental understanding of how the brain works by taking your pre-requisite psychology and neuroscience courses. This course takes your existing knowledge about the brain to understand how it connects what we experience with how we behave. Along the way, you will discover the scientific field of behavioral psychology and its importance in understanding modernday and real-world scenarios in education, sports, music, depression, addiction, violence, anxiety, PTSD and stress, Alzheimer s and memory, language, intelligent machines, marketing, robotics and more. You will also discover how behavioral psychology can be a gateway for understanding how individuals of the same species can behave so differently and identifying the tools that we may use to alter the course of behaviors now and over a lifetime. Specific Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, you will: Develop independent learning strategies and study habits 1

2 Review concepts and current understanding of brain organization and neural function Develop an understanding of how the physical features of the natural environment shape our behavior Develop an appreciation of the origins and lawfulness of behavior and the factors that contribute to changes in behavior Develop the ability to think logically and analytically about behavior and why it changes Develop an appreciation for research using animals that helps us better understand the biological basis of behavior and its relationship to human behavior Trace citations from assigned readings to their primary sources at the library or online resources (e.g., PubMed.gov) Develop skills for teamwork Learn how to evaluate and argue your peers using constructive criticism and logic Construct and write creative highlights from each week s class meetings in a prompted blog Develop an appreciation of the history of science, classic techniques and their application to modern day problems Apply the content discussed in class and in blogs to real situations outside the classroom including therapeutics, study habits, and an empathy for those with behavioral disorders III. Format and Procedures: Participation (100 points): Attendance, quizzes, and your overall effortful-ness in class discussions. Weekly Blog (100 points): Each week, you will be given a prompt by me. Use this prompt to fuel a blog entry (think of this as a diary for this course) to document your ideas and interpretations of what you learned in class and in your readings. Mid-Term Exam I., II., III., IV. (150 points each; for a total of 600 points): These will test your critical thinking skills not just the retention of facts, ideas, and controversies discussed in class between the dates of each test. Focus will be to test how you think, more than how much information you can regurgitate on an exam. However, you will be expected to support statements with evidence from literature and your research. The format will be several multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer essay questions. Midterms will be non-cumulative. TeamWork Assignments & Presentation (200 points): Throughout the course, you will be working in Teams (usually in pairs) to prepare to present (in 30 minutes) a real-world example of a learning process and/or rule to the rest of the class on the final day of our class meetings. Details to follow Final Exam (0 points): There will be no final exam, but you will have many interim tests (Midterms). Some other important things to know: Late assignments: Assignments not handed in before the beginning of lecture at 6:05 pm are considered LATE no exceptions! Submitting your work any time after this on the same day will result in a 10% penalty. Each day after will result in a further 20% penalty. Late work is to be submitted to office with your name and the date. Class Absences: Attendance is mandatory, so any extenuating circumstances for absences must be recorded in to determine whether course credit can be received. Academic Dishonesty: Please don t even try it. You are welcome to discuss ideas and concepts with your peers but each report must be written individually. If there is reason to believe that any part of your work is not your own, you will receive a ZERO for that report. Any cheating and plagiarism will not be taken lightly and could even result in automatic failure of the course. All writing assignments WILL be rigorously checked for plagiarism (e.g., TurnItIn.com). Please consult with me directly concerning any questions or concerns. 2

3 Class Format 6:00 pm Class begins. Hand in any and all assignments add your name, date and Student ID# please! 6:05 pm Door closes and lecture begins. If I decide that there is a pop-quiz that day, or if there is a scheduled Midterm Exam it will begin at 6:05 pm. 7:25 pm Class Intermission for 15 minutes. We will begin again at 7:40 pm. 9:05 pm-ish Wrap-up discussion, sharing ideas, research discoveries and questions/concerns about the topics covered and time for teamwork prep. Be sure to check the online mailing list archive and Sakai regularly. Any relevant classmate s to learn@sakai.rutgers.edu will be archived so no excuses for not getting my s due to inbox errors or whatever. Sakai is also where your Prompted Blog Entries should be submitted every week, so make a habit to keep up to date on Sakai. Its Easy! IV. My Assumptions: You are encouraged to ask questions and discuss experiments, ideas and your papers openly among your peers, classmates, and professor. We are all here for you and for each other so be inquisitive! It will only make the class that much better. I have essentially one general assumption: that the most important thing we need to do as researchers is IDENTIFY ASSUMPTIONS. We all have deeply engrained ideas about how the world, including the brain and how our behavior works. Why? The point of this class is to ASK HOW? & THEN, WHY? I will also mention that this class centers on a behavioral basis of psychology, which assumes a biological basis. So, a core idea of the class is that the processes of the mind that control behavior are based in the biology of the body and brain. Please do come and see me if you want to chat about the topics covered in class, or if something didn t make sense in lecture and/or discussion. One route for this kind of communication is via your weekly Blog. The next best way to contact me is by kasia.bie@rutgers.edu to set up an Office Hours appointment. When coming to office hours, have questions ready and if at all possible, me your questions before hand so I can be better prepared to help out. The more you ask and we discuss, the more the benefit for everyone! V. Course Requirements: The tasks and assignments are aligned with the learning outcomes in skills, knowledge, attitudes and values I hope you will leave the course with. 1. Class attendance and participation: Please don t be late to class and be in attendance every time. Our time is short and swift in this face-paced format. If you miss a class meeting, you will still be responsible for material covered in class, but you will miss that day s participation points and any points awarded for assignments, quizzes and/or midterms. This is truly a discussion-based class, which means that it will be most enjoyable and rewarding if we are all there to chat about the topics and issues covered over the course of the semester. Ask questions. Talk to each other. 2. Course readings: (a) Required text: Learning and Behavior, 7 th Edition. By Michael Domjan (Cengage Learning, 2010; 2015) 3

4 ***You may buy this text as an ebook online at: for ~$30, which gives you immediate access to the text for the summer.*** (b) Additional background readings, links to more (text)books of interest, and classic papers in behavioral psychology will be made available on the Sakai website. VI. Grading Procedures: Grades will be based on: (a) In-class participation (which requires attendance!) (b) Prompted Blog (FIVE in total) (c) Mid-term I., II., III., IV. (d) TeamWork presentation TOTAL: [10% or 100 points] [10% or 100 points] [60% or 600 points] [20% or 200 points] 100% or 1000 points VII. Academic Integrity: Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Rutgers University Code of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity Policy. Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work. For this course, collaboration is allowed in the following instances: research strategies, peer-review of drafts of teamwork projects, peer-review of presentations or other instances based upon special requests and my approval. Of course, you are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in lecture and the sections with other students, even to give ideas of which historical figures to select for your term paper. You can give "consulting" help to or receive "consulting" help from such students. However, this permissible cooperation should never involve one student having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of an , an attachment file, online forums, a diskette, or a hard paper copy. Please ask me if you would like assistance in appropriate ways to cite previously published work. That s one great reason to schedule an office hour appointment with me! And visit for info and useful links. Should copying occur, both the student who copied work from another student and the student who gave material to be copied could both automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for violation of the University Code of Student Conduct can also be extended to include failure of the course and University disciplinary action. The risk really isn t worth it. During examinations, you must do your own work. Talking or discussion is not permitted during the examinations, nor may you compare papers, copy from others, or collaborate in any way. Any collaborative behavior during the examination will result in failure of the exam, and may lead to failure of the course and University disciplinary action. VIII. Accommodations for students with disabilities: In compliance with the Rutgers University policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations that may be required for student with disabilities. Requests for academic accommodations are to be made during the first two weeks of the semester, except for unusual circumstances, so arrangements can be made. Students are encouraged to register with the RU Office of Disability Services to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations and provide me with appropriate documentation. We will be able to make arrangements for you, no problem! 4

5 IX. Extra Credit There will be one opportunity for extra credit, which we will discuss during our first class meeting. Participation in the extra credit activities will be for a total of 10 extra points added to your final total accumulated points out of 1000pts (as described above, in VI. Grading Procedures). X. Inclusivity Statement: We understand that our members represent a rich variety of backgrounds and perspectives. The Psychology Department is committed to providing an atmosphere for learning that respects diversity. While working together to build this community we ask all members to: share their unique experiences, values and beliefs be open to the views of others honor the uniqueness of their colleagues appreciate the opportunity that we have to learn from each other in this community value each other s opinions and communicate in a respectful manner use this opportunity together to discuss ways in which we can create an inclusive environment in this course and across the Rutgers U. community Note: This syllabus is our contract, student-to-teacher and teacher-tostudent, that you and I will commit to this course with integrity, honesty, enthusiasm and an open mind to new ideas and various points of view. We will treat each other and our classmates with respect and patience and remember to listen as much as we speak. Signed, KMB 7/10/2017 Signed, 5

6 XI. Course Schedule [Note that you will be keeping a weekly blog; one per week, due by Saturday; for a total of 5 blogs.] Topics Readings Goals TeamWork Mon. July 10 Welcome to Learning Processes Wed. July 12 Blog entries Week #1. Weekly entries will be due at the end of the week to Sakai by Saturday at 11:59pm but feel free to submit your blog any time earlier during the week. Mon. July 17 Wed. July 19 Midterm Exam I. Blog entries Week #2. Mon. July 24 Wed. July 26 Blog entries Week #3. Mon. July 31 Midterm Exam II. Wed. August 2 Blog entries Week #4. Mon. August 7 Midterm Exam III. Wed. August 9 Blog entries Week #5. Mon. August 14 Midterm Exam IV. Wed. August 16 Fri. August 18 th ~Final Grade Due to Rutgers~ Our class syllabus & Preface & Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Chapter 11. Chapter 12. To understand why we study learning & behavior. General overview of course, expectations, and an intro to our Sakai Website. And also a general meet-ngreet! To begin to understand the relationship between a stimulus and a response. To begin to understand the relationship between a stimulus and the change in a response. To begin to understand the rules that change the response to a stimulus. To identify why we use instruments to understand the rules that change a response to a stimulus. To understand what instruments have revealed about behavioral control. To begin to see the how the same behavior can be interpreted in different ways; and how theories can be useful for science. To begin to understand how different stimuli interact in the control of a response. To understand how some acquired behaviors can seem to disappear. To understand the differences between approach behaviors and avoidance behaviors. To continue to identify how animal behaviors, including conditioned behaviors, can help us understand all brains and behaviors even in humans. Your turn! Real-life examples of conditioning, learning, and rules on behavioral control. 1. Pick a partner for the TeamWork Class Presentation held on the last day of class. 2. Assignment instructions and initial brainstorming. Preview Chapters 11 & 12 to see how complex behaviors might be reduced to simple models. Start thinking about a presentation topic. Decide on topic & Research time (A). Overview Research time (B). Journal Article 1. Research time (C). Journal Article 2. Create outline of presentation in bullet point format. Design inclassroom activity for peers to demo your presentation topic. Decide on & plan your presentation platform from outline; start choosing images, graphs, etc., to include in the presentation. Plan out the presentation, assign roles for speaking, and classroom activity. Finish & polish your ~20-25 presentation slides (e.g., in PPT, Keynote, Prezi). Practice speaking in preparation for giving your presentation. Anticipate questions that you may be asked my peers! TeamWork Presentation Day! Points earned for each assignment/test/etc. will be posted to Sakai a.s.a.p. after test dates and deadlines throughout the summer session. Your final grade will be calculated using a regular undergraduate Rutgers letter-grade scale from the 1000pts total that you earn from your work and classroom efforts. 6

7 XII. Additional Resources for Summer Classes SAFETY: If you feel an individual might be a threat to him/herself or others, contact Public Safety (732/ ) immediately and alert the Office of Summer and Winter Sessions (848/ ). Campus Police can be reached at (732/ ). PARKING: A permit is required to park in university parking lots during Summer Session. For those students who do not already have a University parking permit, please visit the Department of Transportation Services, Public Safety Building, 55 Commercial Avenue, New Brunswick ( ) and bring a copy of your course registration. Visit for current hours and information. To avoid potential parking issues at the start of Summer Session, please obtain your parking permit by the start of the first class session. SUMMER SESSION OFFICES: The Office of Summer and Winter Sessions is located on the first floor of the Public Safety Building, 55 Commercial Avenue, Suite 120, New Brunswick, NJ Summer hours of operation are Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., May 31 through August 17. Closed July 4th for Independence Day. Feel free to stop by, contact us by phone (848/ ) or e- mail us at summer@docs.rutgers.edu. CONTINGENCY TEACHING PLAN: In the event of cancellation, a makeup class will be held in person or online this is called a contingency teaching plan. Summer Session courses have a contingency teaching plan before the course begins due to the fast-paced nature of the summer session. Our contingency plan will include the use of online instructional tools such as the Pearson Learning Studio or Go To Meeting. For more information on our course Contingency Plan in particular circumstances, please see the Sakai Class website. You may also visit the web at For further information or to discuss specific questions, please post to your blog, or check our class Sakai website. kasia.bie@rutgers.edu to schedule an Office Hours appointment. 7

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